Re-read week 79: Awakening 3 - 8

[Topic Starter Robot]

Awakening 3 4 5 6 7 8

[LadyObvious23]

Aww. :3

And here comes Daphne the utter tool sheeple who believes that someone who comes out to them must boink them.

I'm not going to say anything bad about Stan. But wow he's got better self control than I thought. I would've broken the dude's jaw if I were him.

[Alice Macher]

Good: Lisa's outfit (a change from her usual short skirt), and the Jack Kirby homage in strip #8.

Not so good: The intrusive celebrity cameos.

[timemonkey]

What celebrity cameos?

[FlyingFish]

Stan's just had it slapped in his face that, when it's not about fast-talking others, he's useless (while Jack remains wise and in control). There's not actually a Mr. O'Malley* scolding him for sitting there like a weakling while his friend was in mortal danger, but a similar voice is in his head, and his reaction would be similar as well, were it not for Jack to talk him down (and be the wise one. again.)

You'd think this would get some development out of him, but Stan is not one to develop; he resists any attempt to make him wiser or more complex or even more useful, and he'll prove it in a year by running Campaign 2 in the same spirit as Campaign 1. Jack has already quietly surpassed him in all respects (except, ironically, confidence) and will continue to race ahead until he leaves the casually strolling Stan in the dust.

*If you don't get this reference, you should be reading Dumbing of Age.

[thebitterfig]

Scott McCloud in strip #8. I don't recognise the other folks in the van. Nelson Muntz is in the next strip.

[brasca]

I'm not going to say anything bad about Stan. But wow he's got better self control than I thought. I would've broken the dude's jaw if I were him.

In Stan's mind Gary goes down in one punch, but I have to wonder if it would really play out like that. I'm sure there's a lot of people on this board that would've been just as happy if Gary smacked him down. I am somewhat sympathetic with Gary since it was 3 against 1 the first time we met him and Rich easily could've handled him without his henchmen. In that scenario Rich, Jack, and Stan are bullies ganging up on someone who is a punk, but largely powerless.

I would also say that Sara must've been really desperate to find people like herself to reach out to Lisa. Eventually, they become college roommates, but she's far too hip and smug at this point in time.

[timemonkey]

She might think Lisa's actually into her after the 'kiss rape' incident.

[CEOIII]

Or she figured "If Lisa figured me out before I did, maybe she's figured out others as well, and she can introduce me to those others so I can try and be comfortable in my own skin".

Which she did.

[timemonkey]

Yeah, introducing her to Daphne was awesome...

[Adrishiana]

3: The Viggo Mortensen cameo doesn't bother me, but considering Sara is pretty pop culture aware I'm sort of surprised she doesn't know who he is. Then again, Lord of the Rings may not quite be up her alley.

#5: This is a bit forced. Once Sara takes a dislike to someone, she tends to dislike them for a while (see: Rich, though that did eventually change), and while she didn't precisely take a dislike to Lisa, I find it odd that she'd go back to the person who thought it was appropriate to out her in public (which, if someone didn't catch it last time, is inappropriate and also completely GROSS and also not funny at all; it's a great way to out yourself as a terrible person though!) and give her a chance to pull more shit. In a semi-public venue, at that. Eventually this will lead to us being supposed to believe that Lisa and Sara are close enough friends for Sara to ask Lisa to be her roomie, and, well, it never quite catches.

While this is not quite the first step down Lisa's road to being not much more than a combination of deus ex machina, Mary Sue, and Super Special Sparkle Snowflake Princess, Duchess of More Special Than You, she's definitely looking at the signpost here.

#6: Lisa, you are in no position to snark on anyone else for being judgmental.

Aggie's Surprise Face is great.

#7: I don't know why Sara needed a makeover.

Long-suffering Jack is long-suffering.

Stan is encountering realizations about himself he doesn't like!

I'm sort of surprised Gary can eat. Though, considering there's no actual food in front of him that I can see (maybe behind the cup?), maybe he's not. (I mention this mostly because my appetite tends to shut down when I'm stressed, which was a bit of a problem during exams weeks.)

#8: Yes, the McClouds were kind of gratuitious. I think T said so himself at one point, but I can't be arsed to go dig it up right now.

[Alice Macher]

#7: I don't know why Sara needed a makeover.

T said somewhere sometime in here that there was a meta reason for that: readers kept confusing her with Karen.

[Adrishiana]

#7: I don't know why Sara needed a makeover.

T said somewhere sometime in here that there was a meta reason for that: readers kept confusing her with Karen.

... I'm not sure how, given that just about their only similarity was having dark hair. Although, now that you mention it, I think Cyndi was confused for one or the other (or both?), too.

[Alice Macher]

... I'm not sure how, given that just about their only similarity was having dark hair. Although, now that you mention it, I think Cyndi was confused for one or the other (or both?), too.

This is true, although at the time T would've been working on "Awakening," Cyndi had barely appeared.

There was this strip from "Names: A Study Primer" in which he explained how to tell Karen and Sara apart. (Although like you, I myself found that even in Gisèle's older, simpler style, they weren't hard to distinguish. Karen always had a fuller face as well as body, and Sara's old hairstyle, to the extent it resembled any other character's, was more like Charlotte's than Karen's.)

[Valerie]

... I'm not sure how, given that just about their only similarity was having dark hair. Although, now that you mention it, I think Cyndi was confused for one or the other (or both?), too.

This is true, although at the time T would've been working on "Awakening," Cyndi had barely appeared.

There was this strip from "Names: A Study Primer" in which he explained how to tell Karen and Sara apart. (Although like you, I myself found that even in Gisèle's older, simpler style, they weren't hard to distinguish. Karen always had a fuller face as well as body, and Sara's old hairstyle, to the extent it resembled any other character's, was more like Charlotte's than Karen's.)

But you don't know her yet. You will...